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Round Rock New Neighbors is a social organization of women welcoming women in the Round Rock area since 1978. Both "new" and "old" neighbors are welcome. For more information: rrnewneighbors.org [Barnes & Noble requires that RRNN's book club be open to the public, so you do not need to be an RRNN member to attend book club, and both men and women are welcome and do attend. ]

Literary Events

Click here to see the trailer for Stephen Spielberg's Ready Player One, currently in theaters. Look for the DeLorean. (Hint-it's moving quickly and is black and you're more likely to find it if you watch one of the explanatory videos that elaborates on the trailer.) If you want to, stay on the YouTube page and see lots more about Ready Player One. After all, it's a movie about the native online generation.

Great and uplifting film!

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Barnes & Noble La Frontera hosts the first meeting of a new nationwide Barnes & Noble Book Club May 2nd, 6:00 - 7:00 PM at Barnes & Noble La Frontera. The book is Female Persuasion, by Meg Wolitzer. The book is available at Barnes & Noble La Frontera.

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HILL COUNTRY AUTHORS SERIES

The Friends of the Georgetown Public Library will host their 36th author event on Tuesday May 15, 2018 at 2 PM, in the Community Rooms of the library located at 402 W. 8th St.

The featured speaker will be local author, MJ Hegar, who published ‘Shoot Like a Girl’ in 2017.

In Shoot like A Girl, MJ takes the reader on a dramatic journey through her military career: an inspiring, humorous, and thrilling true story of a brave, high-spirited, and unforgettable woman who has spent much of her life ready to sacrifice everything for her country, her fellow man, and her sense of justice.

Tickets are $15 in advance.They’re available at the Second-Hand Prose bookstore on the second floor of the library, and online at www.folgeorgetown.org/calendar. Tickets are available at the door for $18.A dessert and beverage from the Red Poppy Coffee Company is included.

The event begins at 2 PM; doors open at 130 PM.Proceeds are used to fund unbudgeted items and other ongoing library projects.

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Gang Leader for a Day Draws Us In

It's partly
the book choice that makes our discussions so stimulating, and it is partly us.
This conclusion I have arrived at after much thought. I think of it every month
when I choose the highlights among my notes from our meeting. I'm almost always
amazed at the range of discussion topics we cover. The questions and
information our presenters bring add a lot, too. For all these reasons, I
recommend our meetings. If you haven't been to any, and you have been reading
with us, you owe it to yourself to come to a meeting, whether to just listen, ask
questions, or give us your opinions and insights!

Whereas our book choices vary widely, I felt that
Gang Leader for a Day, by Sudhir
Venkatesh, was a very unique choice. A survey of everyone present indicated
that most read the book and everyone liked it! Jay introduced the book by
telling us why he chose it. He had grown up in Chicago and in his post high school years he passed by the Robert Taylor Homes on the El (elevated train public transport) as they were being built in the early 1960s. Before their construction and while riding through the area eventually occupied by the Robert Taylor Homes, Jay noticed many older homes that had no curtains, and you could look right in from the elevated train which practically ran right through many backyards. When
you are in Chicago riding the El past low-income apartment buildings, you are
very close to the buildings. Real estate backing up to the El is close to the
tracks and presumably is priced accordingly!

Here is Jay's succinct description of the history
of the Robert Taylor Homes project:

In
the ‘20s and ‘30s large numbers of blacks migrated from the south to Chicago in
search of housing and employment. In the
1ate 1950s Chicago city leaders decided to replace overcrowded slum dwellings with
the Robert Taylor Homes (RTHs) which were constructed between 1958 through 1962. At one time, the RTHs comprised the largest
public housing development in the country. The project stretched for two miles
along the Dan Ryan Expressway which was also under construction at the same
time. The project eventually included 28
16-story high-rise buildings with a total of 4,400 units. Every three buildings formed a U-shaped
cluster with a courtyard in the middle. The
entire complex was planned for 11,000 residents, but at its height the complex housed
up to 27,000 people of which 95% were unemployed African-Americans. In the mid
‘90s, the Clinton administration and city leaders decided to replace all the
RTHs with smaller low rise homes, which resulted in the dispersal of many former
residents throughout the greater Chicago area.

We looked at a map of Chicago to get some
perspective on the size of the Robert Taylor buildings and their location in
relation to other Chicago landmarks, including the University of Chicago and
places some of our book club members had lived. Just as we were getting a feel for the map of Chicago, Pam
unveiled a work of art she had acquired when she lived in Chicago in the 1980s
and early 1990s.

On the way back and forth from work each day, Pam
had noticed an artist who worked along the street, making drawings of the city
with colored markers. She saw him working so many days, she finally looked at
his work and then bought a large drawing made with pen and ink and colorful
markers. She put the drawing under her bed in storage when she moved back to
Round Rock, and she thought of it when reading Gang Leader for a Day. Thanks to Pam for showing it to us! Sure
enough, the picture was drawn from a crossroads near the El and the Robert
Taylor buildings! The drawing shows several landmarks and roads mentioned in
the book! Pam would guess that the artist lived in the projects. The artist's
name was Wesley Willis. He had a modicum of fame as a singer-songwriter as well
as an artist. He lived 40 years, from 1963 - 2003, and suffered from
schizophrenia. Pam found a nice video online showing the artist in Chicago going about his day of drawing. This was done while the artist was relatively young and healthy and is very sweet. Note the comments; some are by the person who knew Willis and made the video. Here is the link:

For our discussion, Jay brought a batch of
thought-provoking questions. We went through most of them, with several comments
on each. As usual, we had some tangential meanderings. Rather than try to list
our discussion answers, I will include a copy of the questions below, with
thanks to Jay.

One particularly interesting question that we
came up with concerned the results of tearing down the projects and dispersing
the gang members and especially their drug business. We wondered how the large
community who needed very low-income housing was able to relocate, with the
projects being replaced with much fewer affordable alternatives. This would
include both gang members and drug dealers and the few law-abiding citizens who
were able to survive in the projects and still keep two feet in mainstream
society as opposed to illegal activity. Jay sends a link to a long article that
mostly answers this exact question. The answer, in a nutshell, is that drugs
thrive in Chicago, but the gangs such as the Black Kings were broken by the
demolition. The drug business is now run by a Mexican gang. led by someone
named Guzman.

Here is one paragraph that seems key to the
article:

Guzman grabbed control of Chicago partly by
exploiting the disarray among its gangs. From the 1970s into the 2000s,
organized mega-gangs divvied up drug-selling territories from public-housing
towers, says Jody Weis, a formerFederal Bureauof Investigation agent and Chicago Police
Department superintendent from 2008 to 2011. The city razed the housing
projects just as federal prosecutors were using new racketeering laws to
convict and incarcerate gang leaders. Read the article here:http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-17/heroin-pushed-on-chicago-by-cartel-fueling-gang-murders.html

Below is a list of Jay's discussion questions:

1.How
did the author’s ethnicity and previous education help or hinder his ability to
conduct research in the RTHs?

2.What
are the pros and cons of the author’s research methodology, and would a
multiple choice questionnaire have been better?

3.When
describing blacks, how did JT label “his” people, versus those who lived in the
suburbs?

4.Why
do you think JT consented to working with the author?

5.What
JT behaviors and skills kept him in power as head of the Black Kings?

6.What
benefits did Chicago gangs provided in the past, and how had they changed over
time?

7.What
would the RTHs community look like without JTs operation?

8.Beyond
basic survival, what motivated the adult women in the RTHs?

9.To
whatt extent do you think the city’s institutions helped to create the
conditions in the RTHs?

10.If
you were to design a bumper sticker for the RTHs, what would it say?

11.The
authors of Freakonomics draw
parallels between modern corporations and the workings of the Black Kings. Describe
the similarities and differences.

12.Describe
how community members exploited Venkatesh, and how the author exploited the
community.

13.What
are some of the similarities and differences between people who lived in the
RTHs, and those who lived in the castes of India as described in The White Tiger.

14.Besides
completion of his degree, what brought Sudhir’s research to an end?

15.Would
you agree or disagree with critics who criticized the author’s book for pushing
negative stereotypes of Africa-Americans?

16.Did
reading Gang Leader for a Day make you more or less sympathetic
to the problems of poverty among America’s urban poor?

17.In
hindsight, what suggestions would you like to have made to improve the lives of
these targeted to live in the RTHs?

2 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Here is a 10-minute video you SHOULD watch. Wesley Willis exits the subway (where I bought his art) onto State Street in downtown Chicago, sets up his stool and draws while passersby watch and talk with him. Rated G for sure and gives insight into a street artist's commute to "work" and his work environment. Also shows him drawing with one pen, using another pen as his ruler - how my art piece was drawn. ...Pam

Books Read

May is Comedy Month!

On May 21st, we will discuss The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific, by Maarten Troost. This book is categorized as "ethnography" or "geography," so it is essentially true. It is an uncommon rendition of reality in this South Sea Island, in contrast with typical advertisements for travel in the South Pacific. It has a reputation for causing laughter! See what you think!

Copies of the book are or soon will be available at Barnes & Noble La Frontera in the Fiction/Literature section, or maybe a travel/geography section (final answer to be published here later) under "Troost." If you want to check to be sure there is a copy on the shelf, you can call Barnes & Noble (512) 600-0088.

A History Mystery for June

June 18th, we'll discuss Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann. This is a history mystery. This true story is about the Osage Indians in the United States in the 1920s. Wealth happened and then murders happened. As much as is known about this is covered.

Copies will be available at Barnes & Noble La Frontera soon, in the history section under Moriarty.

Books Nominated Not Chosen

Just Mercy, by Brian Stevenson

Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in Northern Korea, by Barbara Demick

Books Mentioned at the Recent Meeting

WLT: A Radio Romance, by Garrison Keillor

The Bible: Old Testament

Small Great Things, by Jody Picoult

Uncle Tom's Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe

Books Mentioned at Previous Meetings

Uncle Tom's Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe

Small Great Things, by Jody Picoult

The Bible: Old Testament

WLT: A Radio Romance, by Garrison Keillor

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, by Jonathan Safran Foer

Lost City of the Monkey Gods, by Douglas Preston

The Case for God, by Karen Armstrong

The Underground Girls Of Kabul: The Hidden Lives of Afghan Girls Disguised as Boys, by Jenny Nordberg

Underground Girls of Kabul: In Search of a Hidden Resistance in Afghanistan, by Jenny Nordberg

Going Rogue, by Sarah Palin

Half Broke Horses, by Jeannette Walls

An Invisible Thread: The True Story of an 11-Year-Old Panhandler, a Busy Sales Executive, and an Unlikely Meeting With Destiny, by Laura Schroff and Alex Tresniowski

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, by Robert M. Pirsig (2nd time on this list)

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, author unknown

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, by Annie Dillard

The Road to Wellville, by T.C. Boyle

Same Kind of Different as Me: A Modern-Day Slave, an International Art Dealer, and the Unlikely Woman Who Bound Them Together, by Ron Hall

It Can't Happen Here, by Sinclair Lewis

Delicious, by Ruth Reichl

The Sympathizer, by Viet Thanh Nguyen

Micro, by Michael Crichton

Supergods: What Masked Vigilantes, Miraculous Mutants, and a Sun God from Smallville Can Teach Us about Being Human, by Grant Morrison

Conan the Barbarian, by Robert E. Howard

Dereliction of Duty: Johnson, McNamara, the Joint Shiefs of Staff, and the Lies that Led to Vietnam, by H.R. McMaster